Controversial singer Namewee might be a racist perpetrator in the eyes of many, but the multi-talented artiste has never regarded race as something of importance.
Instead, Namewee, whose real name is Wee Chee Meng, called on everyone to embrace the fact we are of one human race.
“I don’t think it is a matter to identify what race we are and where we came from because ultimately, human species all came from East Africa,” he jeered.
“But the fact today is, we hold a Malaysia passport, that makes us Malaysian,” he continued, resting on a couch and speaking to Komunitikini after the launch of his debut movie Nasi Lemak 2.0 yesterday.
Localisation
The Young Turk pointed out that localisation would be the essence to a long profound process to produce Malaysians who finally identify themselves as “Malaysian first”.
“Just like nasi lemak, the rice might come from Thailand and the coconut might be from Indonesia, but we made it ours, that’s why it is our national cuisine,”
He was quizzed by Utusan Malaysia over the use of Rasa Sayang as the theme song for his debut movie, as the reporter claimed it was not composed in Malaysia.
“But every Malaysian can sing this song, why is this not our song? This is all about localisation,” he answered the reporter from the UMNO-owned paper.
He also thinks that Malaysians should not be passive to bemoan a bad fate suffered from an unfair system.
“Of course there is a problem with the system, there will always be a problem.”
“But you must first identify yourself as a Malaysian first, fix your heart, then you can fight the system,”
Nasi Lemak 2.0 to hit cinema in Sept
The 28-year-old is going to release his debut film in 60 theatres nationwide on September 2.
The 1-hour-48-minute movie stars some of the biggest names in local film industry, including Afdlin Shauki, Adibah Noor, Nur Fathia, former Alleycats vocalist David Arumugam, singer Karen Wong, Reshmonu, and model Felixia Yeap.
“Eventhough the film was shot mostly in Mandarin and Cantonese, we also included Malay, English and Tamil as well as six different Chinese dialects to make it probably a movie with the most languages,” he said.
In the RM1 million budget film, Wee plays a lost chef who is finding his way to be a Malaysian through Nasi Lemak.
“The main theme of the movie is fueled by the 1Malaysia spirit, how to identify yourself as a Malaysian first before anything else,” Wee said.
Jimmy Tan
Admin
